The imaginary landscape of one who thinks he was born in a Kanthapura, and, for his summer vacations, visited a Malgudi!

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Holiday reading; some suggestions!

The approach of Christmas is also the approach of holidays; and what better way to spend the holidays than by reading! Here is a reading list for this holiday season. The short essay also tells the significance and importance of holiday reading:

But then comes holiday time, sacred days, time outside of ordinary time, when it's possible to find free hours for reading during a day usually given over to work. On a day such as this you can commit the absolutely marvelous act of reading for pleasure, the heightened version of this being the stimulating mix of entertainment and edification about the world and life that comes from reading great fiction and poetry. In this way, we truly participate in the holy separation of ordinary time and sacred time.

Meditation practice in a number of spiritual traditions separates special thought from ordinary, rational thought. Holiday reading distinguishes itself from reading for courses or reading for business reasons or reading to keep up in a book club. It is the gift you give yourself, the gift of time infused with adventure, the gift of supercharged language and deep insight into character, the gift of story that we need every day -- and if only everyone could seize the time! -- to instruct us in how to understand the seeming relentless forward propulsion of our lives.